Alsek River Day 14

July 19, 2012

Today is take-out day. We need to be in Dry Bay today, but today goes all the way until midnight! We sleep in a bit and wake up to a beautiful but slightly hazy day. After breakfast Michael, Anita and I head down the shore of the Knob to look for the trail that goes to the top. John left ahead of us and we figure we have reached the trail since we see him coming down. We head up and he decides to go back to the top with us. We climb up a boulder scree slope of big rocks, not little ones, and most of them aren’t too stable. We take our time and everyone makes it up without too much problem. The top is open and grassy with pebbles, and view is exceptional! We hang out for about an hour, chatting, taking pictures, and soaking in the beauty before we head back to camp.

At camp we eat lunch and now it is time to pack up and head out.

We are looking for the top of a slough that has been used in the past to paddle down to the NPS airstrip. It is as dry as a bone! (Pat and Michael and group were able to use it in 2007). Isostatic rebounding which is the loss of the weight of glaciers allowing the land to rise about 2 inches a year is we assume, the reason. We decide to paddle down stream and take the bottom of the slough up to the airstrip. John has the GPS coordinates that the NPS gave us for the downstream entrance to the slough logged into his GPS (N59 10.059 W138 31.368 (7V 641608 6561350). Several hours later we

find a likely candidate that the GPS shows to be .9 miles from the coordinates we have so we stop. John starts paddling up to look around the corner to see if it continues, Pat walks downstream to check out the next slough. A little while later John comes back, he doesn’t think this is the right slough. We can hear an ATV coming and a minute or so later a guy pulls up and Pat comes back. After lots of conversation the guy says "oh yeah, if you want to get to the NPS airstrip go up that slough a couple of miles" (the one John checked). He says it gets pretty shallow and we might have to carry the boats 300 yards through muddy stuff at the end. We are not looking forward to portaging the raft again but you do what you have to. The actual coordinates for the slough are: N59 10.590 W138 32.275 (7V 640707 6562303).

Michael and Anita start rowing up the slough to get a head start, Pat, John and I continue shooting the shit with the local. He is very nice.

We finally start up the slough and catch up to the raft after 15 or twenty minutes. The slough is beautiful. We are technically heading upstream so we can see the mountains that we just came through and since the sun is starting to set everything is pink and orange. We do encounter some shallowness but the boats will float without the people in them so we just walk up the shallow spots and pull the boats behind us. In just a couple of spots the raft stops floating so we drag it across a few feet of mud but we make to the airstrip no problem.

This is our buggiest camp!

Plane is coming at 7am tomorrow.

Alsek River Day 13

July 18, 2012

It took six hours to go 3.5 miles today! There are two channels that put one on the lake. The river goes to either side of what is called the Knob, creating an island. The upstream channel was blocked by ice and the other channel ran out of water! Pat and John walked all the way around the Knob to see if we could get through but they decided that the ice was too thick to get the raft through. So when the boat would no longer float down the downstream channel we did a fairly short portage to the next puddle and floated the raft. We did this three times to get to the fat side of the Knob. At this point the raft had a channel to go around the Knob to the camp that we wanted. 

John, Pat and I decided to go down the upstream channel with the ice. They had scouted it on the circumnavigation and found that there was 30 to 40 yards packed with brash ice (small, table sized and smaller bergs, floating) that they thought the smaller boats could push through. John made it through pretty easily, he would paddle up on top of the larger chunks and slide off pushing the chunks to the side. Pat and I got caught up just a few yards in between rocks on shore and a larger chunk of ice that we couldn’t move enough to allow the boat to go through. John jumped out of his kayak and took the bowline of our boat and pulled while Pat and I used our paddles to push the smaller ice away from the large chunk, once there was a little room the large chunk could move over more and the boat fit right through.

Ice water is very cold on the feet, even in a drysuit, especially if the feet of your drysuit leak like Pat’s do but it was super cool to paddle through the ice! It is also very surreal paddling in the ice. The sky has been crystal clear for most of the day but clouds came upstream during the raft portage so we didn't have as much sunshine during our ice travels which gave the whole thing a moody feeling.

Anita and Michael reached camp from the other side of the Knob (N59 11.085 W138 10.616 (7V 661291 6564038) alt:34) and Anita walked up to meet us. Instead of letting her clamber back across the rocks we give her a ride back to camp. She sat on the center thwart with a leg over each side, leaning back on the drybags, not super comfortable but very non-strenuous.

I scared myself while off peeing. As I am squatting with my clothing around my ankles, I hear a noise that sounds like growling! It is coming from the vegetation in front of me and it seems to be coming my way. At this point I realize that I left camp without bear spray. In an attempt to save my a@! I shout “hey bear!”  I wait two or three seconds and I hear it again! So again I shout “hey bear!” By this time my heart is pounding and in my head I am giving myself a severe reprimand for being such an idiot! As I am trying to quickly rearrange my layers and close up my pants so that I can get back to camp and the others I hear it again! I am frantically looking around because it seems to be behind me now and as I turn my head I catch a small flash of movement in the air right behind me. There is a hummingbird investigating the blue fleece hat that I am wearing! Feeling totally ridiculous but relieved I fan myself because I have broken out in a sweat and I take a deep breath to calm my racing heart before heading back to camp.

Alsek River Day 12

July 17, 2012

Today is an absolutely, beautiful day for paddling; we have blue skies, and hanging glaciers in every valley. The scale of things is huge!

Camp tonight is on the Peninsula (N59 13.467 W138 12.523 (7V 659290 6568379), we are on the river side, Alsek Lake is on the other side of the peninsula.

We decide to walk over to the lake before dinner, Michael will stay back and hang out at camp to keep watch for bears. (Anita goes back again after dinner with Michael). There are beautiful icebergs everywhere with the music of small drops of water pinging off the lake in the background.

Tomorrow we will try to paddle into the lake at the end of the peninsula if there is an opening in the icebergs.

Alsek River Day 11

July 16, 2012

Layover day at Walker Glacier.

Don't look for Walker Glacier on a map you won't find it! The name came from early river guides because this glacier is easy to get to and walk on. What is the official name? The guide book doesn't say, and I couldn't find one on a topo map either.

Our layover day hike will be to go over to the glacier and walk on the lower section. Very cool! We find a trail that goes around the lake and heads up through the brush to the lower plateau of the glacier. I love looking at the texture of the top surface of a glacier, especially while standing on it! It seems rather like standing on the back of a giant, blue, orange (the fruit) that has just been rinsed off. It is full of divits that are filled with water, from little, tiny, pocket puddles to sizable lakes; and the colors! Every shade of blue can be found on or near a glacier: teal, baby, navy, midnight, they are all there. To continue with the metaphor our orange might have a worm in it! We come across a pretty large opening that barrels down into the depths of the glacier. It looks a lot like a slide in a playground although I suspect the bottom of this one might mean death! We give it a wide berth and keep exploring.

At camp we discover a Willow Ptarmigan that is nesting right next to camp. I think she might be a bit behind schedule, there are still three eggs in her nest! A second clutch?

There are also hummingbird(s) zipping all around camp. Are they attracted to all the bright colors? Tents, boats, drybags, clothing?

I also saw what may be a Pine Grosbeak. Medium sized bird (like a robin), very deep red color on most of it, big, thick, beak. I've looked it up in a bird book now that I am home but I'm still not sure.

Alsek River Day 10

July 15, 2012

Overcast with off and on rain all day.

We have a fairly long day of paddling approximately 35 river miles to get to Walker Glacier where we would like to camp tonight. We will pass the confluence of the Alsek with the Tatshenshini today so there is a possibility that we might see other groups of people today and in the days ahead. The Tatshenshini doesn't require a put-in permit from Parks Canada, just a take-out permit from the U.S. National Park Service in Dry Bay.

The river has gotten really big after the confluence with the Tat and looking downstream it seems like we are going to run smack into a bunch of mountains! The river runs pretty straight for quite a distance before making a fairly dramatic left-hand turn that is hard to see from upriver. 

We came pretty close to a grizzly today. It was eating a salmon in a braided section of the river. John and us managed to catch a channel going river left thereby avoiding the bear. Anita and Michael in the raft missed that left channel and headed straight down the channel that the bear was in! I suspect they were taking pictures, didn't see us go left, and didn’t realize that they were going to spook the bear from his meal. The bear noticed us first and stood up to get a better look, but as soon as he realized the raft was coming right at him he ran. The bear ended up going completely around the raft in a wide circle and then continued fishing in almost the same spot he left.

One of Anita's pics of the bear.

Home for the night is Walker Glacier camp A (N59 24.084 W138 03.633 (7V 666873 6588435). As we are setting up camp we see a bear off to our left and when it notices us it heads back into the trees. A little later we see another bear in almost the same exact spot, we think it might be the same bear checking to see if we are still around!

After dinner we walk over to look at the lake below glacier. Pat and Michael say it has really changed since they were here in 2007. The glacier has receded quite a bit and there is less ice in the lake. They were on a trip together on the Tatshenshini so they have both seen the rest of the river from this point.

Alsek River Day 9

July 14, 2012

The helicopter came a little early! Maybe 20-30 minutes early, luckily we were pretty much ready especially since we could hear it coming for several minutes which gave us time to close up those last few bags. 

The helicopter flew in really low over camp and then did a steep bank around us twice before landing. I was impressed. The first order of business was setting out the net and putting most of the gear in it. First in was the raft frame, then most of the gear bags piled on top, and lastly, we leaned John’s kayak up against the side of the pile. Doug, the pilot, then went through some safety stuff (never walk behind the helicopter to get to the other side), and showed us how to hook the clamp of the net to the bottom of the helicopter. John was the volunteer to stand under the helicopter and hook the net to it! Then we watched most of our gear fly away swinging underneath.

About twenty minutes later the helicopter was back and we all climbed aboard. This was my first flight in a helicopter and I was surprised at how smooth it was. This could be attributed to several things, good pilot, short flight, or a host of other things that I have no idea of; but I had no sensations that my insides were pushing up, or pushing down. Since I am prone to motion sickness this is a good thing. The flight through Turnback Canyon was quite a trip! The water was wild and gnarly looking, I'm so glad we are portaging.

There is another alternative for getting to the other side of the canyon besides boating through it and flying over it. You can walk around it! From the different things we read, one trip around the canyon takes most people at least two days walking across the Tweedsmuir glacier. How many trips around you need depends on how much stuff you have!

After we land and move all the gear off of the net we chat with Doug (pilot) for bit and I see a hummingbird above the helicopter checking it out! It was there and gone before I could get my camera out for picture. 

As soon as the helicopter pilot flew away we were opening the pizza boxes! Fresh pizza (cooked that morning) was a banquet after eight days of eating dehydrated and freeze dried foods. It is also a beautiful day, blue sky, sunshine, we decide not to go downriver today which was our original plan, but decide to camp right where we are. (N59 43.612 W137 56.665 (8V 334451 6624668))

Anita finds a nice waterfall with a pool beneath it that makes a great shower and we all take turns walking up and getting cleaned up. It is cold and refreshing, right near the edge of the Tweedsmuir Glacier.

Alsek River Day 8

July 13, 2012

While paddling today the weather was cloudy with occasional light rain so most of the scenery was blocked by the low clouds, it was still extraordinary.

We are looking for the camp above Turnback Canyon at the base of Mt. Blackadar. This is a must stop camp! If you miss this one you go through the canyon, which is way harder than we anything we want to be tackling. The guide book says to look for the 3000 foot glacier and DO NOT go past it. 

Michael and John

You can see the glacier coming for quite some distance so we stay really close to the far shore and stop at places that look like they might be camps. We figure we have made it to camp when we get out of the boats and there are paths lined with rocks and a big flat area also outlined with stones. Perfect for the helicopter to land in tomorrow morning.

Pat called to confirm the helicopter for tomorrow and, at Michael and Anita's request, he also called in an order for two pizzas and 15 pastries to the Village Bakery that the helicopter pilot is going to pickup and bring with him. 

Anita

Now we have to deflate the boats and repack some gear. Small things that we have just been clipping in the boat need to go into something bigger. Plus, almost all the gear will go in one flight and all of the people in a second flight, so we want make sure that we have a couple of sleeping bags, medical kit and some food with us just in case the helicopter can't come back.

John and Michael find the memorial paddle for Walt Blackadar tucked between a snowbank and a cliff.

Alsek River Day 7

July 12, 2012

Pat and I in the foreground.

We are halfway through the trip. The big nerve racking, butterflies in your stomach rapids are now behind us. The water is much bigger now with the glacier melt from Lowell, several rivers, and many creeks adding to the flow. Waves and holes are random and big and avoidable.


We had a great day of paddling today! Nice whitewater, lots of wave trains but no BIG holes. Camp is just above the normal Range Creek camp. It is a nice small bench. We set up camp, eat lunch.

In the evening John, Pat and I go for a walk to look for clear water (not glacial). There is a waterfall just upstream of us, unfortunately it is on the other side of rock wall (our side) cliff (far side) and a fairly deep but narrow channel of the creek. We head up the bluff behind camp (not the rock wall) to see if we can hike up and around to the source of the waterfall and the channel. There are beautiful, deep green lakes dotted throughout the bedrock bluffs above the river. Amazing views up and down river. We bushwhack through big alders to the top of a ridge hoping to see into the valley behind us but the alders and poplars are even more dense at the top. This has been a theme of our hiking so far on this trip. We do see a den across the bedrock bluffs on another ridge, seems kinda large, maybe wolves (we saw footprints) or wolverine but not large enough to be bear, we think.

Alsek River Day 6

July 11, 2012

The morning is still fairly windy but not nearly as bad as yesterday. Good thing because we need to move downriver, both for our schedule and because you are only supposed to spend one layover day in this location, not two. 

We start out paddling but after about 20 minutes Pat and I and Michael take our boats to shore and walk the boats. We will be moving through the biggest rapids that we will encounter on this river today so saving some paddling energy for the rapids is the goal of walking.

John helping Anita by pushing the raft!

After about two or so hours later we have gone three miles and are at the end of the lake. Lots of work to get here and we still have the big rapids that are listed in the guidebook to go through today: Bill and Sam’s, Erractic, and Lava North.

Bill and Sam’s: the plan is to take the sneak route, a channel on river right that comes out just below all the gnarly stuff. We find some big waves and a hole or two in the sneak but it wasn’t too bad, there is room to avoid the big stuff.

Erratic: One, big giant, hole but easily avoided if you are paying attention.

Lava North!: This has been the gut twister for me, we looked at pictures and watched YouTube videos of this rapid and it looks nasty. Neither the pics, nor the video do justice to just how nasty this rapid is! We ground out about a mile upstream of the Lava North and walk down to take a look. (Scout stop: N60 08.683 W138 00.249 (7V 666333 6671301) It is stunning in its power and fierceness. The river has control here and it knows it. There is a line down the middle, avoid holes and waves, then put your boat in the slot to slide between two monster holes and brushing the edges of monster breaking waves on your tip toes. Michael makes a comment about the group not being the strongest safety wise (only 4 boats) and John responds “but we have a lot of good sense.” Our good sense tells us to portage!

We eddy hop down the left side of the river until the boulder garden gets too dense and then we portage. Pat and I start lining our boat (gear still in) through and over the boulders. Everyone else starts portaging their gear from the raft. Michael lines his boat down the boulders and then we all work on getting the raft through the boulders. Lift one end, float the other, carry the whole thing. It is a bit of work but we get it down fairly quickly. Heave a big sigh of relief.

Camp is just downstream of gauging station on river right. The day started about 11:30 am and we hit camp about 8:30 pm, a very long day of paddling and work.

Alsek River Day 5

July 10, 2012

Unexpected layover day!

We wake up to really horrible winds! The tent bows in without let-up, like an arm or a nose is pushing it in. There is no way we can paddle against this wind. We spend the morning in the tent.

Mid-morning, early afternoon, we climb out of the tent and Michael suggests that we should move the Megamid. It is taking a beating in the wind but is holding up great. We scout for a new location and John, Michael, Pat and I move the Megamid to its new location. Everyone has lunch and then it is back to the tent.

In the late afternoon, Pat and I decide to take a stroll. My hiking boots have pretty much dried in the wind so Pat carries me across all of the small channels of water so that they will stay that way. It is a beautiful day, except for the wind which has not let up.We see some tracks that Pat thinks are Wolverine.

Two layover days in this camp is against the rules but the wind does not let up, not for an instant. We all gather in the Megamid for dinner and then hang out for about an hour before heading back to our tents. We will have to leave tomorrow.

Lowell Lake camp

Alsek River Day 4

July 9, 2012

Layover day.

Goatherd Mountain

Slick rock

John, Pat, Anita and I hike up Goatherd Mountain. Would like to see up the glacier to the ice field. The first section of the hike is to get to the ridge that leads to the top. We do a little rock scrambling and reach a section of slick rock that is at about a 30° slope and goes for about 30 feet. I'm a bit nervous but make it to the top! This brings us to the ridge and now we are walking through low brush and tundra. At a couple of stream crossings we have to push through the ever present willows, we haven't done a hike yet without forcing our way through willows. From camp we can see the waterfalls that these streams create as they go over the edge.

Just after wer stop for lunch it starts to rain. It rains pretty steadily, the temp is still fairly warm and we are moving so we stay pretty warm. We continue to hike, going back, away from camp, up to even higher peaks that we couldn't see from the bottom. We cross a snowfield or two and are headed up to another high spot hoping to see to mountain goats on the other side, but no such luck, the high spot is a false ridge. My knees are starting to stiffen and we still have to get back down. We tell John and Anita that they can continue hiking but they decide to come back camp with us.


We look for a different way down to avoid the slick rock slope (now wet and probably really slippery) that we came up. Lots of scrambling, sit on your butt and drop down off of rocks scrambling, to get down. Everyone makes it back to camp safely.

Alsek River Day 3

July 8, 2012

We wake to another beautiful morning of clear skies and sunshine. Last night John and Anita found Lady Slipper orchids growing behind camp, I took a few pictures this morning.

The goal for today is to make it to Lowell Lake and through the ice bergs from Lowell Glacier to the camp we want; approximate distance is 12 miles. The river has been moving along at 6 to 7 miles an hour so with a little paddling it doesn't take all that long to get to the lake; even with the upstream winds starting up about 10:30 am.

At lunch we seem some small animal tracks that go back and forth across the same dunes behind where we are eating. John thinks the tracks probably belong to a Least Weasel, probably more than one.

The entrance to Lowell Lake is described in the guide book as two miles of class 3 rock garden. Pat called it exactly when he said a lunch that he thought "there would be class 2 lines with class 3 features." Some holes, easily avoided, and some big crashing waves, also easily avoided. Not so bad, so far.

When you come around the corner and see Lowell Glacier and the icebergs in the lake, and three 14,000 foot mountains in the background (Hubbard, Kennedy, and ?). Wow! We are speechless, have stopped paddling, and I'm sure our mouths are hanging open. Then the cameras come out.

John in Lowell Lake

Michael helping Anita through the shallows.

Pat and I miss the channel to follow the shore across from the glacier and bergs, the one that goes to camp and not out into (or under) the bergs! We ground out on a just submerged gravel bar and walk our boat as far up the shallows as we can before ferrying across into the correct channel. Michael and Anita are in the same predicament but they find deeper water and paddle upstream. Eventually the also ground out and have to drag.

Pat and I lead the way to camp, pushing the smaller icebergs out of the way with our paddles to make room for the raft. The hardest part for everyone is putting down the cameras and paddling, amazing!

Michael in front of camp.

Alsek River Day 2

July 7, 2012

Looking towards where we are headed.

Lunch today is on river right at Lava Creek. Anita, John, Michael and I go for a short hike to get a little elevation for a view up and down the river corridor. Beautiful!

Go juniper berry!

The juniper berry seems to be working as we pump water after lunch. We start by pumping already filtered water through the pump just to make sure it is clean. The water tastes great.

A short day of paddling, approximately four hours until we reach our next camp at Marble Creek. John, Anita, Pat, and I hike up to a pointy ridge through low lying juniper bushes and small willows. From there we had hoped to find a route that would go behind this ridge and up the mountain behind it. We had no luck with that! We bushwacked our way through thick, 6 to 8 foot willows and poplar trees only to find a sheer drop off. We head in a slightly different direction to try again but the result is the same! We start back towards camp and when we get to the clear area where we first reached the top Pat and I decide to hang out for a bit while Anita and John head down.